"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?" says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. "But you ask, 'How have we despised Your name?'
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Significance
Malachi 1:6 invokes the principle that "a son honors his father" (בֵּן יְכַבֵּד אָב, ben yekhabbed av), echoing the fifth commandment of Exodus 20:12: "Honor (כַּבֵּד, kabbed) your father and your mother." Malachi extends this commandment vertically to Israel's divine Father: God claims the title "father" (אָב, av) and "master" (אָדוֹן, adon), then demands the honor and fear that these titles entail. The rhetorical force of the allusion is devastating -- if even pagan nations honor their human fathers, how much more should priests honor God who is both Father and Sovereign? Their failure to give kavod to His name represents a more fundamental violation than mere ritual sloppiness.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Analogy — Malachi argues from the fifth commandment's parent-honor principle ("Honor your father and mother," Exodus 20:12) applied analogically and a fortiori to the vertical relationship: "A son honors his father... But if I am a father, where is My honor?" (Malachi 1:6) — the Decalogue's household obligation extended to the honor due God as Father and Master.
